Ornamental base for christmas trees



Patented Dec. 28, 1937 I Y 2,103,93a

PATENT OFFICE 2,103,939 ORNAMENTAL BASE FOR cnms'rMAs TREES William M. Flanagan, Philadelphia, Pa.

No Drawing. Application February 17, 1987,

Serial No. 126,30!

2 Claims.

Thepresent invention pertains to the art of ornamentation and more particularly to the art of ornamental fabric bases adapted to be used in connection with Christmas trees and to simulate the natural surroundings of the tree. The primary object of. the invention hasbeen to produce .a Christmas tree ornamental base which is arti ficially colored to simulate snow, grass, moss, or other natural surroundings of the tree.

The invention can bestbe understood from a description ofthe method of manufacturing-it.

' In the production of the ornamental base of the invention a fibrous material which may be jute,

I hair, wool waste, or other natural fiber, is first carded or garnetted in a conventional manner.

' The carded fibrous material is then made into a bat by conventional means, such as passing it through a Blamire feed machine. The coherent fibrous mass produced in this manner should be of thinner consistency, i. e., less fibers per square inch, than the consistency of similar fibrous materials which are ordinarily produced in carding and batting such fibers to produce fabrics such as rugs, for example.

After the carding and batting operations are completed, the'bat is needled to a. suitable backing, which may be burlap, tobacco cloth, paper,

or other suitable inexpensive backing surface. Care is taken in the performance of this needling operation to effect it in such a way as to cause the individual fibers to stand away from the backing surface instead of being pressed down into a substantially horizontal position against this surface. This can'be accomplished either by reducing the number of needles employed in this operation below that employed in producing conventional fabrics by needling of batted fibrous material to backing surfaces, .or by speeding up the rate of feed of the backing material and bat through the needle loom. The fabric mate-,

rial which leaves the needle loom may be cut to 7 result in the production of a fabric material more may, for example, be printed in two or more colors in order to simulate a lawn provided with dirt paths, or any other desired design.

1 Alternatively, the individual fibers which are I processed to produce the ornamental base of the invention may be bleached or dyed prior to the performance of the steps of carding and batting, or at an intermediate stage in the process of manufacture.

I am aware that the general sequence of process steps described above is known in the art of manufacturing rugs and other fabric articles, and no claim to invention is made in the performance of the succession of steps described. The use of the fabric in an unsized condition, the needling of the bat to the backing material in such a manner as to cause the individual fibers to stand away from the backing material, and the thin-. ness of the bat do, however, produce a highly ornamental effect which simulates the natural surroundings of a Christmas tree in a manner 1. An ornamental Christmas tree base comprising a thin unsized bat of fibrous material needled at widely spaced points to a backing ma terial, the strands of said fibrous material being so arranged as to stand away from the backing material, and the whole being suitably colored.

2. An ornamental Christmastree base comprising a thin unsized bat of fibrous material needled at widely spaced points to a backing material, the strands of said fibrous material being so arranged as to stand away from the backing material, and the fibers thereof being suitably multi-colored. 7

WILLIAM M. FLANAGAN. 

